Have you ever been in a relationship where you felt that there was just no real connection?
You know the kind where no matter what you said or did or when you said or did it, it just seemed to be wrong at the time.
Some of us may identify a relationship with our mother-in-law, our boss, a love interest or school friends.
The sad part about this kind of lack of connection is that it does happen and seems to be part of our understanding of the world we live in.
Yet deep down, if you are like me, you might want so badly to be friends with everyone you meet. We want to understand and be understood by them. We want to be inspired by their stories of tragedy overcome, intense joy lived and above all the way they experience the gift called life.
I wasn’t always so keen to know people. I chose to go farming because I feared people. But one day God touched my life in a very powerful way and slowly He changed my heart. And He taught me about active love.
We all have stories (life experiences) to share (telling and listening).
Telling our stories, when we’d rather be private, is not blowing our horn, but rather helping others to be inspired, encouraged and challenged.
For me that is active love.
Sharing our stories helps break our selfish nature and in the process discover our humanness and that really, we all want to love and be loved. By sharing we place ourselves in a ministry opportunity.
May God open your heart to share with others.
You know the kind where no matter what you said or did or when you said or did it, it just seemed to be wrong at the time.
Some of us may identify a relationship with our mother-in-law, our boss, a love interest or school friends.
The sad part about this kind of lack of connection is that it does happen and seems to be part of our understanding of the world we live in.
Yet deep down, if you are like me, you might want so badly to be friends with everyone you meet. We want to understand and be understood by them. We want to be inspired by their stories of tragedy overcome, intense joy lived and above all the way they experience the gift called life.
I wasn’t always so keen to know people. I chose to go farming because I feared people. But one day God touched my life in a very powerful way and slowly He changed my heart. And He taught me about active love.
We all have stories (life experiences) to share (telling and listening).
Telling our stories, when we’d rather be private, is not blowing our horn, but rather helping others to be inspired, encouraged and challenged.
For me that is active love.
Sharing our stories helps break our selfish nature and in the process discover our humanness and that really, we all want to love and be loved. By sharing we place ourselves in a ministry opportunity.
May God open your heart to share with others.
2 comments:
It amazing how people relate to people - stories about people far away we forget, but the lives of those we know can really touch us. As a teacher and preacher, when I share abstract theory, I see a glazed look come over faces. When I tell a personal story though, people wake up.
And the things I remember about sermons & teaching - the stories about the people.
I guess we need to share to allow people to learn!
It's not just preachers who can/should/need to tell their stories.
At NR we are busy with the contagious christian course and at the heart of it all, is that our stories can help others find meaning in life. after all, a large section of scripture is simply stories of how God reveals Himself through the lives of people just like you and me.
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